Hello hello

Soooo its cold. like too cold. i dont like europe anymore. haha ok not quite but it is way too cold for me. the temperature ranged between -3 and 3'C here in Vienna yesterday. I catch a train to Salzburg today. It's sunny there today 4-11'C. loving that. then 0-8'C on Monday, and -1-5'C with a "chance of snow" on tuesday. yay! I then head off to zurich on mittwoch (aka wednesday).

After Berlin I was in prague for 3 nights. most travellers I have met that have been there have strongly recommended Prague and that if i do get there i "must do the pub crawl!". Prague is a nice little city with a funny looking clock (astronomical clock) a couple of nice churches, a castle, an incredibly old bridge which used eggs to help keep it together (charles bridge - 1357) and the usual monuments etc etc. but all it was, was building building building. On the train ride in from Berlin we went through some of the best scenery I have seen so far on my trip. The train was running parralel to the Vltava (i think it is called) river (which flows through Prague) and was surrounded on both sides by wonderful mountain terrain. So if I was to go back I would definitely either take a day trip up to this area or try and stay a night or 2 up there.

And yes i did do the pub crawl. and again it was good but i have done better. The first hour of free beer and absinthe shots (after pre drinks) made it a rather messy affair. So all in all I would have to say Prague was a bit of a let down for me. Still great but i think I had built up some very high expectations and i think every city i see now is compared to Paris...which is hard to match.

So after a very slow start, and sporting a rather sore head and still trying to place the missing pieces of the puzzle from the night before I ventured off to the train station in order to get to Vienna. I might add at this point that all of the train travel has been incredibly simple and reliable and have not had any hiccups as yet. It has also been the best way to see some of the best German, Czech and Austrian countryside. having said that I'm sure my train ride today will be a complete disaster now i've said all that.

Vienna suprised me. It is much larger than what I thought it would be. I am staying on the outskirts of the city in a town called Hutteldorf which is on a hill with views across Vienna (or Wien). I visited Schönbrunn palace and gardens on my first day here. This was once the royal palace. It has stunning views and it was a beautiful day when i went to see it which helped. After a couple of hours walking around (and chasing squirrels) through the roman ruins, fountains, and an obelisk within the gardens i caught the subway into Karlsplatz and ventured upto Karlskirche (St. Charles Church), and walked around the Upper Belvedere Palace and gardens which was quite extravagent.

The next day I caught the Subway to Stephensplatz which is the main area here in town. Strolled through town past the main sights including Hofburg gardens, hofburg palace, the museum quarter, the naturhist and Kunsthistorisches Museums - and their gardens, Alte Hofburg (the old castle), the Burg theatre, Rathaus park/church. Mozart apparenlty lived and played in Vienna at some stage of his life and hence there were numerous references to him along the way. Apart from him, pretty much everthing else in Vienna seems to be devoted to the emperor Franz Joseph. The austrians really like this guy. I was going to go in and watch the spanische Reitschule (spanish horseriding school) as it is meant to be one of the popular tourist attractions here in Vienna. But it looked like a bunch of losers prancing around on horses who cant walk properly.

Last night I went and watched Rapid SK Vienna play SV Reid. This is the Austrian Bundesliga (top league in austria). Vienna won 1-0 and are now 1 point off top of the table with one game in hand. Reid are running 5th and Salzburg on top of the table. Was a very respectable crowd and a good atmosphere with flares, etc.

Ok i will try and upload some photos in the next few days of berlin, prague and vienna. off to salzburg. auf wiedersehen!